Engine swap underway-02 mountaineer with mustang heart transplant

[03explorereb]

gents,
yet another one fell in my lap. got a 02 mountaineer for cheap.
the problem: 4.0 that dropped a valve and rimwrecked the engine.
the solution: engine from 05 mustang with 47000 miles.
old engine is out with all parts needed for the new engine swapped over.
new engine is sitting in there mated to the trans but nothing is hooked up yet. bout a day's worth of work and i should have it done. i will keep you posted on progress and let you know the ins and outs of this swap.

 

[Limited02]

You'll be the first that I know of that swaps a 4.6 3V into a 3rd gen Explorer

What are you using for a transmission?

Looking forward to how this works out!

 

[College Student]

sweet, if we start smelling excess amounts of rubber i'll know it worked out

 

[03explorereb]

sorry guys,
going to be a buzzkill but it's a 4.0 from a mustang not a 4.6. i looked into a swap for the 3v 4.6 but it looks like bit of a task. i had many people claiming that a 4.0 vin N engine wouldn't work because of various issues, cam profile, and the like but here to tell what some of you already know. it works. no issues at all with the swap. a little bit of changeover but for the most part a pretty smooth transition. i probably screwed up by posting this in the modified section because this is pretty mild compared to some of the mods/swaps done in this part of the forum. i do have my eye on doing the 5.4swap for my 4.6 and possibly doing a supercharger setup but that is about a year down the road. maybe sooner.

 

[College Student]

Eh still very cool, I'm afraid of engine work.

 

[boominXplorer]

Yeah all the 4.0 sohc will swap vise versa all day. I have used a 07 ranger in a 04 explorer, 06 mustang in 03 explorer and a 07 ranger in a 99 explorer.

From experience just about everything from the 07+ ranger motor fits direct on 3rd gens like exhaust manifolds, flywheel, all the sensors. If you try to use a 05+ mustang engine, the manifolds and flywheel are different. 97-04 is 1 cam profile and all 05+ engines are another but I am unsure of the actual specs

 

[College Student]

is this the same for all dohc as well?

 

[jay_there84]

Nice, good luck with the swap

 

[Wills05xlt4x4]

Yeah all the 4.0 sohc will swap vise versa all day. I have used a 07 ranger in a 04 explorer, 06 mustang in 03 explorer and a 07 ranger in a 99 explorer.

From experience just about everything from the 07+ ranger motor fits direct on 3rd gens like exhaust manifolds, flywheel, all the sensors. If you try to use a 05+ mustang engine, the manifolds and flywheel are different. 97-04 is 1 cam profile and all 05+ engines are another but I am unsure of the actual specs

So would my 05 with a build date sticker on the head says Sep 22/04 be a 05+ or not yet?

 

[SinistrV6]

Did you complete this swap? Any issues? May need a motor for the '04 Sport Trac I just picked up and adding Mustang motors to my search may yield better results. All of the externals on the ST motor are good and can be swapped over as needed.

 

[JoshMcMadMac]

Did you complete this swap? Any issues? May need a motor for the '04 Sport Trac I just picked up and adding Mustang motors to my search may yield better results. All of the externals on the ST motor are good and can be swapped over as needed.

SportTracs never had a V8 option, so it might be a harder swap.

 

[SinistrV6]

SportTracs never had a V8 option, so it might be a harder swap.

This thread is about a 4.0 V6 Mustang swap.

 

[JoshMcMadMac]

This thread is about a 4.0 V6 Mustang swap.

Sure enough! I did not make it past the second post.

 

[03explorereb]

whoops,
forgot to give an update. no problems, no issues, the engine works marvelously. you must swap out things like your fuel rail, upper intake, exhaust manifolds and such but the core engine works great. overall the swap went pretty smoothly. i never even got a service engine light. been running smoothly for a couple of months now. easy cheesy swap.

 

[SinistrV6]

whoops,
forgot to give an update. no problems, no issues, the engine works marvelously. you must swap out things like your fuel rail, upper intake, exhaust manifolds and such but the core engine works great. overall the swap went pretty smoothly. i never even got a service engine light. been running smoothly for a couple of months now. easy cheesy swap.

Just finished this swap today. Only issue I'm having is a surge at idle (and eventual stall) and a dead miss throughout all RPM ranges. The only part from the Mustang that I reused was the crank sensor and I did that because I reused the Mustang balancer.

Donor motor is 2010 Mustang with 19k miles.

Any suggestions?

 

[JoshMcMadMac]

Just finished this swap today. Only issue I'm having is a surge at idle (and eventual stall) and a dead miss throughout all RPM ranges. The only part from the Mustang that I reused was the crank sensor and I did that because I reused the Mustang balancer.

Donor motor is 2010 Mustang with 19k miles.

Any suggestions?

Does the engine have a TPS? Check to see if any trouble codes are present.

 

[SinistrV6]

Does the engine have a TPS? Check to see if any trouble codes are present.

Not currently throwing any codes. I put the Explorer crank sensor back on and the symptoms didn't change.

I'm gonna let it cool off and check the plugs. Old intake had a bunch of crud in it. Maybe I missed some and I fouled out a plug.

I noticed another problem too. When the themostat opens, the upper radiator hose is being sucked flat. Wonder if that's what caused it to overheat on the previous owner?

 

[SinistrV6]

I'm gonna head to the parts store and start with the obvious things (fuel filter, plugs, clean the intake and IAC.

After thinking about it, I'm leaning toward fuel delivery. The truck sat for about 3 months dead with the previous owner. No telling what it sucked into the filter on that first start up.


We'll see.

 

[Limited02]

Did you use the Explorer fuel injectors?

Edit: My reason is this- The explorers have a return style fuel system and I believe the mustangs do not. So what can happen is you'll flood the engine basically. My dad had a similar problem when he did his swap with a 4.6 and after changing the injectors, all was good.

Edit again...: You have a V6 and I am not 100% if it's a returnless system or not. Hmmmmm...

 

[SinistrV6]

Did you use the Explorer fuel injectors?

Edit: My reason is this- The explorers have a return style fuel system and I believe the mustangs do not. So what can happen is you'll flood the engine basically. My dad had a similar problem when he did his swap with a 4.6 and after changing the injectors, all was good.

Edit again...: You have a V6 and I am not 100% if it's a returnless system or not. Hmmmmm...

Good train of thought but I reused everything from the Explorer on the fuel system.